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5 > VI ».»•• r iV '^.:^ ^f,^^H*^^ • J* V ,-, L I E> RA RY OF THE U N IVLR5 ITY or ILLl NOIS HD^ Eagineering lAlDtkvy^ DKDlCATEn, BY PERMISSION, TO THE CHAIRMAN AND DIRECTORS OF TIIK I.OXnON AND BIRMIKGHAM RAILWAY COMTANV. f^:Jr^<K^ ROAD BOOK OF THE LONDON AND BIEMTNGHAM RAILWAY, ILLUSTRATED BY AN ACCIRATE MAP OF THE LTNE, AND BY NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS. LONDON: HAYWARD AND MOORE. birmingham: james drake, 52, new street. liverpool: wii.lmer and smith, and ross and nightingale, manchester; lovp: and barton. t^ KNTEREI) AT STATIONERS UAI,I,. DIRM INGHAM: I'KINTKI^ RY .T\JiES DRAKE, 52, NEW STREET. j;^ ' TO THE "/ CHAIRMAN AND DIRECTORS "•^ OF THE iONDON AND BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY COMPANY, IS, BV PERMISSION, RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, THE PUBLISHER. 2 464311 ADVERTISEMENT. What has led the Publisher of this volume to indulge the hope of being able to provide an acceptable guide to the London and Birmingham Railway, has been the highly gratifying reception which has already been given to three editions of his Road Book of the Grand Junction Railway. Accordingly, he sends forth this Road Book with the pleasing conviction that he is sending it among persons who, by the acknowledged merits of its predecessor, as well as by the high character of numerous other works of a similar nature, which have issued from the same press, are already pre- possessed in its favour. Should a generous public, by the manner in which they receive it, show that the estimation in which they have hitherto held his labours remains undiminished, the Publisher ; VI ADVERTISEMENT. will consider that all his exertions during the many months in which he has been engaged in preparing it for publication, have been abundantly rewarded. The descriptive part has been written with the utmost carefulness ; and, as the whole line was leisurely traversed for the express purpose of obtain- ing the most correct information, its accuracy may be confidently relied upon. The character of the scenery through which the railway passes is some- what minutely described ; an account is given of every neighbouring town and important village and all other interesting objects which can be seen from the line are mentioned in the order in which they appear in view. The Writer has also continually aimed at leading the mind of the traveller into pleasant and instructive trains of thought, and furnishing him with interesting sub- jects for familiar railway colloquy. With respect to the Illustrations, the name of the artist, H. Harris, Esq., by whom the views were taken, exclusively for this work, will doubtless be deemed a sufficient guarantee for their faithfulness, judi- ADVERTISEMENT. Vll cious selection, and intrinsic merit. They have also been engraved by one of the first London artists, and expense has not been spared in order to render them worthy of the noble undertaking which they are designed to illustrate. By the completion of this volume, a Road Book is provided for the whole line of railway from London to Liverpool and Manchester; which, besides proving a useful hand-book for the tra- veller himself, will also, it is hoped, be found an agreeable companion, by those who seek to enjoy the pleasures of travelling while comfortably seated at their own firesides. Birmingham, Atif/tist I, 1839. THE ROAD BOOK LONDON AND BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY. CHAPTER L LONDON. As the pleasure we derive from travelling, depends chiefly upon the means we have of gratifying the curio- sity which it excites, when we are so fortunate as to have an intelligent companion to point out the spots renowned in history or celebrated in poetry, to inform us as to the productions of the country and the manu- factures of the towns, and direct our eye to the most beautiful objects in nature and remarkable works of art, we are placed in the most favourable situation for deriving all the enjoyment from travelling it is capable of affording, and are perhaps almost inclined to com- plain of reaching the place of our destination too speedily. With the hope that such a companion would be found in this little volume, by those who are about to take a trip by the London and Birmingham Railway, wc would at once introduce our readers to this B ; i LONDON. wonder of modern times, were we not too proud of the metropolis of our native land to leave it altogether unnoticed. It will not, we hope, be considered an unpardonable digression, if, before we commence our journey, we briefly glance at this city, the object of a world's admiration. London, if we may place any credit in the ancient Welch chroniclers, is as old as the times of Homer for, according to them, it was founded by Brute, the great grandson of ^neas, the Trojan hero. If this be true, London may vie with Rome in point of antiquity and Troy has had the honour of giving birth to the two mightiest cities the world has ever beheld. But it is more probable, that, for very many ages after the period mentioned b}'^ the chronologer, the banks of the Thames, where the mistress of the world now sits, presented no other prospect to the eye of the wander- ing savage than that of a wild, unhealthy marsh, the undisputed possession of poisonous reptiles and ravenous beasts. The first time London appears on the page of authentic history is upon its being burned to the ground by Boadicea, after its temporary evacuation by the Romans. Thus London enters upon the stage of history in the interesting character of a sacrifice offered up by vengeance upon the desecrated altar of British independence. It would appear as if this circumstance had in it something ominous ; for few cities have suffered so severely from fire and pestilence as London has, since it was burned by Boadicea. Five times has the plague swept through its crowded streets and thinned its inhabitants; and LONDON. 3 the 10th, 11th. r2th, and 17th centuries were all marked by the occurrence of awfully wide and de- structive conflagrations. Yet none of these calamities have been able to check its rising greatness. From the ashes of every conflagration it has arisen more vigorous and beautiful than before. In 1377, the number of its inhabitants amounted to 35,000 ; in 1680, to 670,000; in 1801, to 864,000; and in 1831, to 1,500,000,—a population which far surpasses that of the most renowned cities of ancient or modem times. Various are the causes which have swelled it to this unparalleled greatness ; but the chief one has undoubtedly been its commerce. Its situation on the banks of a noble river, and at a safe distance from the ocean, renders it peculiarly available for purposes of trade ; and, the circumstance of being the metropolis of a great and wealthy empire, necessarily creates a brisk internal traffic. Even so early as the twelfth century, a learned monk of Canterbury, in " A Description of the noble City of London,'' speaks of Arabia, Seythia, Egypt, and Babylon, as pouring their costly merchandise at her feet. If, then, London in the twelfth century, when the metropolis of only a third part of Great Britain, be spoken of in terms so glowing, what language can we find sufficiently elevated to describe London in the nineteenth century, reigning, as she now does, over wide extended dominions in Asia, Africa, and the New AVorld? Into her warehouses thirteen thousand vessels are on an average continually pouring the riches of the world, and through the hands of her merchants property to the value of one B 2 4 LONDON. hundred and twenty millions sterling annually passes. Her citizens furnish foreign princes with the means of making war ; her merchants regulate the markets of the world ; and her manufacturers produce articles which can nowhere be equalled, and which every nation under heaven is anxious to obtain. In London, also, sparkles the bright crown of " the fair virgin enthroned in the west ;" and in its halls the unrivalled aristocracy of England, and the chosen representatives of British freemen, regularly assemble to decide the fate of nations, and consult for the welfare of a hundred million subjects. Great and powerful as London is, it is daily pro- gressing ; and the numerous railways which are now entering it, will doubtless give considerable impulse to its increasing grandeur. The following railways, which are either already completed, or in course of construction, meet in it as their grand focus: —the London and Birmingham, the Great Western, the London and Southampton, the London and Croydon, the Central Kent, the London and Greenwich, the Blackwall Commercial, the Great Eastern, and the North Eastern railways. Commercial prosperity will necessarily result from the rapid communication with all parts of the empire, which the completion of these great arteries will open ; and from commer- cial prosperity will infallibly flow increase of popula- tion, and extension of boundary. The benefits of these railways, in a political point of view, will also be considerable; since speedy intercourse between the different parts of an empire has a natural tendency to consolidate and keep it united. Should railways LONDON. 5 become as extensive on the Continent as they are in England, the political consequences will be of still greater importance. Indeed, as quick and easy inter- national intercourse powerfully tends to produce the coalition of small states into large empires, may we not suppose, that when Europe has been intersected by railways it will present to the eye of the beholder the august spectacle of one vast and mighty republic, firmly bound together by these iron bands ? Lest the reader should begin to think we are detain- ing him too long from his journey, we will now suppose ourselves in front of the beautiful Grecian propylseum, which forms the entrance of the London and Birming- ham Railway, and where accordingly our duties do properly commence.

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